


más sabe el diablo

by unklarity



Category: The Wicked + The Divine
Genre: AU, F/F, demon hunter AU, diablero AU, this is a wild ride friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-25 09:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18258830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unklarity/pseuds/unklarity
Summary: Luci leans her hands on the sink and looks in the mirror.Not her face, just for a second. A flash of brown eyes, curly hair, and then everything is normal. Quiet. The hand on her throat disappears.She feels guilt that isn’t hers, prickling at the edge of her mouth.





	1. veneno

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mustachebabs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mustachebabs/gifts).



> This is an AU based on the Netflix show Diablero, a demon hunter series. It’s amazing and just got renewed for a second season, so you should watch it! 
> 
> In this AU, demons don’t have a corporeal form and exist in this world/ outside their host as black smoke, which demon hunters then store in bottles. Quicksilver is used to force them out of humans. Hopefully, everything else will be self-explanatory.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Luci plunges the syringe into the man’s neck. He gags, a black smoke pouring from his mouth, and she grabs a bottle to catch it, letting him drop.

He’ll be fine, whoever he is. The demon is more important.

She corks the bottle, standing and running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face. Then, she kneels and unbuckles her backpack, wrapping the cork with some duct tape and placing it inside.

One down, eleven to go. Maybe now Ananke will shut the fuck up.

“You got him, Luce?” Baal stands in the doorway, the picture of nonchalance. A dark stain mars his normally immaculate red leather jacket. The ever-present frown on his face is a small comfort to Luci; if things were really bad, he’d probably be making jokes.

“It’s all taken care of, sweet thing. Time to go home to your hubby.” Baal raises a perfectly groomed eyebrow, but Luci catches the wince. “And get that little scratch taken care of, no? I can’t imagine Inanna will be pleased.”

He at least has the grace to keep his mouth shut and let Luci drive. Luckily, they’re not far, and as soon as Luci pulls in the driveway, Inanna is clawing at the car door, opening it and pulling Baal out. They’re in the house before Luci can even blink. She sits in the front seat for a moment, lighting a cigarette and pretending her hands aren’t shaking.

“Fuck,” she says, leaning against the steering wheel. 

-

Later, she sits at the kitchen table, a stone in her hands. She slides it between her fingers. In, out. In, out. Her breathing is steady. The only noise is the sound of The Rolling Stones playing through the speakers. Otherwise, the house is perfectly still.

She holds the stone in one hand. Come on, she thinks. “Show me where she is. Show me where Minerva is.”

Luci’s eyes go black, and she slumps forward, her head against her arms. 

 

-

Laura sighs, tapping her pen against the desk. She hopes Cassandra will get the hint and unglue her head from her computer screen, but after a while she decides to cut her losses. “Well, as lovely as this is, Cass, I’ve got to go...do something else.”

“Whatever. I told you it’d be a while. I’ll text you if I find anything.”

“Got it.”

She waves, knowing Cassandra is already back in her own world, but not wanting to aggravate her more. She closes the door behind her, heading into the hallway. 

Her parents think she’s at University. Instead, she’s sharing an apartment with some journalist she met six months ago and investigating demons, which everyone had always called her crazy for believing in. Hell, she probably would have agreed with them, until one day when she’d screamed for help and accidentally called on one. Turns out, demons are real, and Laura’s got a special talent for inviting them to possess her.

Cassandra had found her in an alley afterwards and, miraculously, hadn’t called the police. And while she wasn’t an expert by any means, she knew enough to get the demon back out of her. After that, she’d all but insisted that Laura stay with her. Turns out, Cassandra had studied demons before, but hadn’t exactly believed in them. Laura thinks tripping over a possessed girl in an alleyway might start to change her mind, too.

“Hey, Laura?” A small voice comes from behind her, and Minerva’s head pops out of her bedroom. “If you’re going out, can I come with you?”

“Ask Cass if it’s ok, Mini, but sure. Wanna get ice cream?”

“Hell yeah!”

Oh, and they’ve got a kid.

They don’t know whose kid she is, or where she’s from. She just appeared a few months ago, screaming for help in the Underground. The kid doesn’t remember everything, just that something killed her mother and that she doesn’t have anyone else. What’s interesting, though, is the thing she describes, the demon she says killed her mother and trapped her in a cellar.

It’s the exact same thing Laura’s seen in her dreams. Down to the tiniest details. Sometimes she’s really sleeping, sometimes she’s awake. Sometimes she sees it killing people, sometimes it seems like the thing is in her body and it’s her doing the killing. One thing is for certain, though; the kid is terrified the demon is going to come back for her and Laura’s not going to let it.

So her and Cassandra have adopted an eight-year-old. A pissy, adorable eight year old who gives absolutely no shits about either of them.

And Laura thought she was a pain in the ass.

“Come on Laura! Cass says if you get us killed, she’ll find a way to bring you back so she can kill you herself.”

“Of course she does. Wear a jacket with a hood, Mini, ok?”

Minerva rolls her eyes, but comes back out with a black hoodie on. “I want Pistachio,” she says, grabbing Laura’s hand and nearly dragging her out of the apartment.

-

Luci wakes up to Inanna’s face above her. He looks concerned. She’s definitely not still at the table, she notices, as she’s laying down somewhere, and something heavy is draped over her legs.

Damn cat.

“Hello, gorgeous,” she says, winking. “Didn’t think I’d wake up like this again, to be honest. Baal seems like the jealous type.”

Inanna pinches her wrist. “He’s sleeping, and if you wake him up, you’ll have to deal with the shitty mood he’ll be in. So I suggest you go to sleep and stop divining in my kitchen, Luci. People eat there.”

And there it is. She’d been trying to find Mini. She’d passed out, hadn’t she? And-

Oh my g-o-d, Luci thinks as it all comes crashing down on her. She grabs Inanna’s hand, using it to pull herself up. The cat shrieks and jumps off of her.

“I saw her, Zahid.”

“You saw wh- wait you saw Mini?”

“Who the fuck else?”

“And her mother?”

“Dead, I think. She’s with two girls. Seems like she’s safe for now. No idea where they are though.”

“You’ve got to do it again. Maybe you can see more.”

She bats Inanna’s hand away. “Oh, so now I’m _allowed_ to divine at the table? Fuck you. I’m gonna have a drink and take a nap. Get me when sunshine wakes up.”

She walks back to the porch and lights a cigarette. Time to pick her poison. Always easier to find people when she’s lost herself.

-

Laura puts the money on the counter and walks back to the booth. Minerva is eating her ice cream with a spoon, the little weirdo. Laura takes a bite from the side of her cone. “Good, Mini?”

“Yep,” she says between bites. “Thanks, Laura.”

There’s silence between them for a long time, and when Laura finishes her ice cream, Minerva looks at her. “I remembered something last night. I think.”

“You think?”

Minerva nods. “Had a dream. I remembered my mom took us to these people when things first started coming after us. Stayed with them for a while. Mom thought it was all over when they caught the first one, and that’s when we went back home. Next day, some other demon came. It kidnapped me, and she tried to save me.”

Laura holds out her hand, and Minerva takes it, even though Laura hadn’t expected her to. “Did you see what happened to her?”

Minerva closes her eyes and lets her spoon drop down into the cup. “Yeah,” she says, her voice shaky.

“You wanna go back?”

“Not yet,” Minerva answers. “I didn’t want to distract Cass. I know how she gets.” She lets go of Laura’s hand and wipes her face with her sleeve.

Laura laughs. “You’re way too smart, Mini. So these people you went to, were they priests or something?”

“Demon hunters.” The way she says it leaves no room for argument. “There were a big group of them, but I only remember some of their faces.”

“If we walk around the city, think you’ll remember where they were? Or we can check it out online.”

The kid is silent for a few minutes, playing with her napkin. “You could call someone.”

“What do you mean? If you don’t know who they are, I can’t exactly search for their number.” Laura takes Minerva’s cup and tosses it in the trash. She’s not sure how Minerva figured it out, if she did figure it out; she keeps a tight lid on her powers, and even Cass doesn’t know the half of it. 

“Cass told me you can call demons, dumbass. If you can do that, maybe they’ll find us.”

“First of all, Mini, watch your fucking mouth.” Fucking Cassandra and her big mouth; she can’t even lie to a kid. Ugh. Well, she might as well spill her guts, now. “And just because I place a call doesn’t mean someone will answer. I don’t summon anything. I just invite them in, and sometimes they come.”

“That’s useless, Laura.”

In this case, yes. “I never said it was useful, kid. But we’ll find them. If there’s one thing I do know, it’s London.”

-

Baal finds Luci a few hours later on the porch, nine cigarettes in and drunk out of her mind. He picks up the bottle of vodka and takes a swig. “Inanna says you saw Mini.”

“Spare me the lecture, sweetness. You were unconscious and he was fawning over you. I had some free time.”

“I don’t care, Luci. I can yell at you about being reckless when Mini’s back. She doesn’t have anyone else.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Baal. Some girls took her in and it looks like she’s safe for now.”

“Where are they?” He sits down next to her, and Luci rolls her eyes. “If I knew that, Baal, I wouldn’t be sitting here drinking. But you might be able to help me find out.”

“Luci.”

“Baal. You know I’m better at projecting when I’m drunk, but I can’t do it alone or I’ll fuck it up.”

Baal doesn’t answer, but he puts the bottle down and crosses his arms. She knows he’ll do anything do find Minerva; he and the little brat had connected immediately and he’d almost destroyed the entire block when she’d gone missing. Luci wants to find her, yes, but she wants the demon more. She doesn’t care if that makes her a bad person.

She is interested in the girls she keeps seeing with Minerva, though. When she’d passed out, she’d seen one of them walking with Mini, holding her hand and an ice cream cone, and yesterday, she’d seen the two of them playing cards while another girl sat at a computer. 

The girl she’s seen more of is short, with brown skin and curly hair that’s been dyed a bunch of different colors. She seems to know her way around London, and she also seems to be helping. If she can just find something, any way to figure out where they are, Luci knows she can find them.

There’s just one problem.

She doesn’t always get the full picture when she divines. It’s kind of a crapshoot, really. But just as her head hit the table before, she’d heard Minerva’s voice.

 _I don’t know their names, but I know their faces,_ she’d told the girl. Which meant Minerva didn’t remember everything that happened. It’s impossible to tell if what she was seeing was current, so there’s no way of knowing of Mini is still with them, or if she’s still safe.

 _That’s useless, Laura_. She can almost feel Mini’s eyes rolling.

Laura.

Luci hopes she’s not too late.

-

The second Laura walks back into the apartment she’s met with a faceful of Cassandra.

“I have an idea,” she says, and Laura is about to tell her to fuck off when Minerva closes the door behind them and crosses her arms with a frown. Immediately, the two of them look at her, and she points at Cass. “Can we sit first, please? Who taught you manners?”

Laura can’t help but laugh. Cassandra pouts, although she would never admit it, but she walks back to the couch. “I’m giving you five minutes.”

Laura goes to her room. Minerva is already on her bed wrapped in one of her blankets, the little pain in the ass. “Excuse me, ma’am, I believe that summons applies to you too.”

“I know. But we’ve still got three minutes.” Minerva’s voice is muffled by the blanket, but Laura hears her well enough. She shrugs, pulling off her sweatshirt and pulling on a crop top as she kicks off her shoes.

“Whatever, kid. See you in the conference room in three minutes.”

Three minutes later, on the dot, the two of them are sitting on the couch, Cassandra standing in front of them with a large notepad. Minerva is still wrapped in Laura’s blanket, only her face peeking out. Laura sits with her legs over the side of the couch, her head propped up on some pillows. She feels strange, but she can’t figure out why. Ever since they’d walked in the door, something had been bothering her, like an itch. Like being watched.

“Alright Cass,” Laura says, kicking her legs back and forth and trying to ignore the feeling. “Lay it on us.”

“I found an incantation. Scrying. It’s like divination, almost. If we use something of yours, Mini, we might be able to see where you were before.”

“I can’t do that, Cass. Who knows what I might let in the house?” Laura winces. Those are her self-imposed rules, and Cassandra knows that. She’s not going to let any demons know where she lives.

“So I’ll do it.”

Laura hears Minerva snort from under her blanket, and she can’t help but agree. “Cass, it doesn’t work if you don’t believe.” 

The thing about Cassandra is that she’s a notorious skeptic. Even though she wrote her entire thesis on demonology, and even though she’s seen people possessed by demons, Laura knows she doesn’t actually believe in magic. It’s all academic to her. The incantations, the summoning, even what Laura does; Cassandra views it how most people view ghost hunting. She tries to debunk it all. It took Laura almost dying in her living room for her to admit demons were real, and even though Laura knows she’s come a long way, she’s not sure Cassandra can pull this off.

“What other option do we have, Laura?”

Ugh, she really hates it when Cassandra is right.

-

Baal manages to find one of Minerva’s jackets. It’s got an owl embroidered on the collar, and Luci touches it, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. 

“You ready?” Inanna asks, and Luci shrugs. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

With the jacket in her lap, she leans back against the chair. “Okay,” she says. “Three minutes should be more than enough. Baal, if I’m not back by then, do whatever you have to do to wake me up. Inanna, sorry, but you gotta make sure I don’t puke.”

Inanna rolls his eyes fondly. “I’ll keep watch, yes.”

“Alright then,” Luci breathes. “Time to find the little brat.”

Luckily, she’s out before Baal even has the thought to yell at her for that. When she opens her eyes, she’s in a bathroom. The mirror is still steamy. She turns her head and sees Minerva brushing her teeth. “Told you it wouldn’t work,” she hears the kid say, and strangely, she feels her mouth open. “Mini, it worked. She just didn’t ask the right questions. Divination is tricky, and Cassandra’s not exactly good at being succinct.”

Who the fuck is Cassandra?

“What’s succinct mean?” Minerva asks. 

“It means she talks too much.” Luci realizes the voice coming out of her mouth isn’t hers. By the way her body seems to freeze as she says that, the voice must have figured it out too. She feels herself turn to the mirror, watches as a hand wipes some of the steam away, and sees someone else’s face. That girl’s face. 

Laura’s face.

Oh g-o-d. 

_Tell me where you are,_ she tries to scream, but nothing comes out this time. She knows she doesn’t have a lot longer before Baal wakes her up. She’s got to move fast.

Laura opens her mouth.

“Tuesday morning, Strand Station. 10 AM. My name is Laura Wilson. I’m not bringing her with me,” she says, words tumbling out of her mouth. “Can you tell me your name?”

Luci ignores the sounds of Minerva yelling, lifting her arm (Laura’s arm?) and bringing it up to the mirror. Her hands are shaking, and Luci thinks her three minutes must be about up.

 _L, u, c, i,_ she writes, locking eyes with Laura in the mirror for a split second before everything goes dark.

-

“Oh my god, Laura, what was that?” 

Laura is on the floor and Minerva is crying. Cassandra runs in, but quiets down when no one answers her question. After Laura manages to get up, she looks at the mirror again, touching the glass as the steam fades the rest of the way. “Mini,” she says, looking at Minerva amd putting a hand on her shoulder. “Was one of those people you were with named-”

“Luci. Yeah. I remember now. She was one of them. Baal, too. And another one. There were more, but we stayed with three of them.”

Cass looks at her, raising an eyebrow. “What’s she talking about, Laur?”

“Mini remembered some stuff. We came back right away to tell you, but you dragged us into that nonsense. I think it worked, though. You didn’t scry, but you brought someone here. Hopefully, the right person.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

“I could feel her. I saw her in the mirror. Definitely human, and definitely confused. They’re trying to find her.” She turns to Minerva, who still looks visibly shaken. “Do you remember what Luci looked like?”

“She wore white all the time.”

“Hair?”

“Um. Blonde. Short? Like a streak or something in it. I don’t know, Laura.” Minerva puts her head in her hands. “I need to lay down.” Laura lets her go, following her and Cass out to the living room and watching her head into the bedroom. She stops Cassandra with a hand on her arm.

“Let her go. That was scary for me, so I can’t imagine how it must have been for her watching from the outside. Make me some coffee and I’ll tell you what happened.”

Cassandra nods, walking into the kitchen. Laura curls up on the couch and waits, feeling an emptiness the pit of her stomach that she’s not entirely sure is her own.

-

Luci’s eyes snap open. Baal’s hands are on her shoulders. She feels a wave of nausea hit her like a brick to the gut, and suddenly she’s on her feet, pushing Baal out of the way. “Thanks, sweetheart, but now I’m really going to vomit,” she says, running into the bathroom and emptying the contents of her stomach, which at this point is mostly vodka. Her throat burns, but she tries to ignore it. “You are never going to guess who I saw,” she yells out from the bathroom floor a few minutes later. She tries to get up, but her stomach lurches again and she decides she likes it just fine on the floor.

Inanna slides in the door, crouching down to her level. “You were yelling tell me where you are over and over. Did you see Mini?”

“Even better.”

“Spit it out, Luce,” comes Baal’s voice, and he looks at her from the hallway, his arms crossed in typical Baal-fashion.

“Okay, fine. Just help me up, would you? My ass is getting cold.”

They make it to the kitchen table eventually, and upon smelling coffee, Luci suddenly remembers the urgency of her news. “Shit. I don’t know what I did but I somehow ended up in that girl’s head. That’s never happened before.”

Baal and Inanna look confused. She rolls her eyes. “That girl I saw. Laura? The one with Minerva. It was like I was seeing through her eyes.”

“Did you see where they were? You were certainly screaming loud enough to wake the whole goddamn neighborhood.”

“Now, now. That’s just rude.” She holds out her hand when Inanna approaches the table with a pair of mugs, and he gives one to her and one to Baal. She inhales deeply. “I saw her in the mirror, yeah. I think she saw me too. She told me her full name, and told me where to meet her. I’ve never talked with anyone in real time like that, either. It was like I was possessing her, but I’m not sure how.”

Inanna squeezes her hand, a genuine smile on his face for the first time in ages. “That’s good, isn’t it? We can find Minerva and see if they know anything about the demon.”

“Yeah. She told me to go to Strand Station on Tuesday morning. Said she wouldn’t bring Mini with her, which means she’s not a total idiot.”

Baal growls. Luci shoots him a glare. “Would you trust someone who randomly astral projected into your body, Baal? I wouldn’t. I told her my name, though, so hopefully Mini remembers enough and can tell her it’s safe.” She looks at Inanna. “We should all go, but for once, let me do the talking. Like I said, I’m pretty sure she saw my face.”

“We’re supposed to go see Ananke on Tuesday, aren’t we?” Inanna asks, looking at her and Baal. Luci takes a sip of her coffee, deciding she’s done enough for one day.

Baal just shrugs, predictably. “Change of plans.”

-

When Laura wakes up in the living room, it’s dark outside. The TV is the only light. She leans over to the table and reaches for her phone, the screen lighting up and telling her it’s 3AM.

Great.

She gets up and pokes her head in the bedroom. Mini is curled up in her bed, so Laura grabs a blanket and heads back to the couch. Her head still feels fuzzy, like it does after a demon’s been in there. Before she sits down, she grabs a glass of water and an aspirin, making sure she drinks the whole thing. Hopefully, she won’t feel this shitty when she wakes up again. She lays back down, draping the blanket over herself.

“Laura?” she hears someone call to her, and when she turns, Cassandra is behind the couch, staring at the TV. “You ok? I heard you get up.”

“I’m fine, Cass. It’s just been a long ass day.”

“Can I sit with you?” Cassandra asks. Laura just wants to go back to sleep, honestly, but she knows Cassandra probably feels bad for what happened, so she nods, sliding back on the couch so there’s room next to her. She leans her elbow against the arm of the couch as she finishes her glass of water, watching Cassandra flip through the channels, finally settling on some action movie. When she tries to move, she realizes there’s a weight on her legs stopping her. “Hey Cass? Can you get off my legs?”

“I’m not on your legs.” Cassandra turns her head to meet Laura’s eyes, and sure enough, she’s not even touching Laura. “Wait, if you’re not-” 

Suddenly, the weight shifts, moving back and forth before disappearing entirely.

“That was a cat. There was a cat on me.”

“Laura, there’s-” 

Laura holds up her hand. “I know how stupid that sounds, Cass. I don’t think I was supposed to feel that.” She’s heard of it, when she was initially researching possessions and astral projection on the internet after the first time it happened to her. Most people called them echoes. Traces of feelings, mostly, when someone astral projected for too long. Sometimes, it happened to people who’d hosted the same demon; they felt each other’s pain, sometimes saw each other in mirrors. After this afternoon, she’d been thinking about it, but hadn’t felt anything until now. But that was definitely not her feeling.

Cassandra is still looking at her strangely, so she shrugs, trying her best to explain.

“I think I’m feeling what she feels. I don’t think she meant to do that, back in the bathroom. I think you were both trying to do the same thing at the same time and it backfired. So now, I’m feeling a cat moving on my legs.” She pauses. “And tasting shitty coffee. Feeling feelings that aren’t mine. It’s a trip. I wasn’t so sure before, but this is definitely not me.”

Laura’s pretty sure Cassandra doesn’t believe her, but after a few minutes of staring at the TV, she speaks again. “Does it go both ways?” 

Laura shrugs again. “Not sure. Theoretically, yeah. But theoretically, a person shouldn’t have been able to do that to me, so I’m not sure I’m the authority here. You ever heard of anything like this, miss Demonology degree?”

“Nope.” She knows Cassandra hates feeling useless like this, can see it in the way she clenches her fists in her lap.

“Hm.” Laura says. “I’ve got an idea, and it can’t be any worse than yours.”

“What is it?” Cass asks her, and Laura smirks.

“Pinch me.”

-

“Ow, what the fuck?” Luci shoots up off the couch, and of course, the cat follows closely after, scrambling out of sight. The sharp pain had lasted only a second, but it was enough to scare the shit out of her. She sits down, rubbing her side. It had felt so real. Almost like a pinch? 

She lifts her shirt to check, and sure enough, a bruise is already blooming across her skin.

What the fuck is going on?

Inanna runs into the living room just as she jumps back off the couch. “Luci, what’s wrong? Why are you even awake?” 

“Stop pinching me! I get it!” she shouts, stumbling out of the living room and into the bathroom, unsure if Inanna is following her. On the way, she feels a hand at her throat, softer this time, but enough pressure to notice. She leans her hands on the sink and looks in the mirror.

Not her face, just for a second. A flash of brown eyes, curly hair, and then everything is normal. Quiet. The hand on her throat disappears.

She feels guilt that isn’t hers, prickling at the edge of her mouth.

“Inanna. I’m still connected to that girl somehow. I’m feeling things she’s feeling. Can you look this up, see how to sever it?”

Baal’s voice answers instead. “Wouldn’t it be better to leave it intact for now? At least until tomorrow.”

Luci groans. Inanna touches her shoulder. “We’re probably going to need both of you to break it anyway. I’ll find out though. Try to get some rest in the meantime.”

Fuck.

-

On Tuesday morning, Laura wakes up and throws on a pair of black jeans and a crop top. Even though it’s perfectly nice outside, Cassandra tells her to take a jacket with her, and Minerva gives her a note to take to this Luci person. She takes her phone and a knife and not much else; she’s out of cigarettes, and even though she doesn’t smoke much, she’s been trying to avoid it since they ended up with a kid. After some thought, she decides to take her headphones in case no one shows.

Laura hopes someone shows, at least to give her some fucking answers.

She takes the tube to Strand Station and waits right outside. Lucky for her, she doesn’t have to wait very long. Two minutes after ten, and a car pulls up to the curb. A tall blonde girl gets out, her short hair slicked back with a black streak, dressed all in white, exactly like she saw in the mirror. She bends down and says something to the driver of the car before looking right at Laura with a smile.

_Oh, no, she’s totally hot._

Pride won’t let Laura look away first, so she watches as the girl, presumably Luci, gets closer and closer. “Would you like to sit, Laura?” she asks, smirking, and her voice is just as nice as the rest of her. Of course.

“Sure. Luci, right?” Laura points toward a set of tables with her chin, walking toward one and sitting down. Luci follows her.

“The one and only. How’s the brat?” 

“Driving Cassandra crazy. Cass is determined to teach her shit, so they’re doing math this morning.”

Luci raises an eyebrow. Laura shrugs. “It won’t last long. Mini always seems to get her way when Cass is involved.”

“Sounds familiar. Does she remember who we are?”

“She does now. That little stunt you pulled in my bathroom jogged her memory.” Laura doesn’t care if she looks annoyed. She’s still annoyed. A little. Although, she gets less annoyed as she keeps talking. Something about Luci is disarming, and it doesn’t help that she’s tapping her fingers against her arm, because of course, Laura feels it. And it’s distracting.

“Yeah, sorry about that, darling. I’m not quite sure what happened there. But at least it brought us together, right?” Luci smiles again, languid and predatory, and Laura feels her heart in her throat. “Don’t worry, though,” she continues. “Baal and Inanna figured out how to fix it.”

“What do you mean? And oh, that reminds me.” Laura digs her hand into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out the note Minerva had written. “She told me to give this to you. But tell me what you’re talking about first.” She pulls the paper back when Luci tries to grab it, and Luci rolls her eyes. 

“Inanna knows all about this shit and he found some weird bug, if we both let it sting us the connection will break, or whatever. It’s in the car, because Baal is rude and didn’t trust me not to drop the jar. Now come on, gorgeous.” Luci holds out her hand again. “Note, please.”

“Fine.” Laura hands it over, looking away and crossing her arms. She knows Luci can tell she’s blushing, but she refuses to look at her, even though she feels Luci’s laugh bubbling up in her own throat. 

Luci reads it, feigning nonchalance, but Laura can tell by the relief that fills her almost immediately that Luci cares about Minerva, and that she doesn’t have anything to worry about if she brings Luci back with her. She guesses their connection did some good, after all. “So when you’re done, I’ve got one more question for you,” Laura says, taking advantage of Luci being distracted and looking her over again. She looks very out of place compared to everyone around her, in her pristine white suit and matching pocket square, the black streak in her hair a shocking contrast. Somehow, though, she makes it all look effortless.

“Shoot,” Luci mumbles, still looking down at Minerva’s note. 

“How did you know she didn’t remember?” 

At that, Luci looks up, the little smirk back on her face. “Divination. I’ve been trying to track Minerva down since her and her mom disappeared. I saw her with you, and heard her tell you she didn’t remember everything. No way of knowing the date on those things, though.”

“Was that what you were trying to do on Sunday?”

“Not exactly. I was trying to astral project. Didn’t go according to plan though, hmm?”

“No, it didn’t.” Laura doesn’t want to say anything else in public, so she decides it’s time. “And I think I know why, but it’s not something we should talk about here. Plus you probably want to see Minerva, right?”

Luci reaches a hand out to Laura, and she takes it, letting Luci pull her up and out of her seat. “Alright. Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the band. I hope you’re ok with us driving; not even a pretty face like yours could make Baal get in a subway car.”


	2. ketamina

The drive to Laura and Cassandra’s apartment is tense. Between Luci screaming at Baal for ‘driving like an asshole’ and Baal glaring at her in the rearview mirror, Laura’s convinced she should have just taken the tube home and given them her address. Inanna, at least, is much better company, and she’s glad she’s stuck in the back seat with him as opposed to the other two.

“So how did you find Mini, Laura?”

She looks away from the front seat and towards Inanna, who’s giving Baal a dirty look in the mirror. “Cass and I found her on the way home one night a few months ago. Or, she found us, I guess. She was in one of the Underground stations, and and she was hurt pretty bad and screaming for help. Kicked me in the shin when I suggested going to a hospital.” She notices a panicked feeling spring up, and that it’s definitely not hers, so she glances back up at Luci and Baal. “It looked worse than it was, I promise. She’s fine now. Eating us out of house and home, but fine.”

Inanna laughs, his eyes warm, and the panic subsides. Laura tells Baal where to turn.

She pretends she doesn’t notice Luci staring at her in the mirror.

-

Laura leads them up the stairs. Luci walks right next to her, with Baal and Inanna trailing behind them. “Just so you know, she woke me up at 6AM, so she’s probably-“

The door bursts open and Minerva is suddenly in Luci’s arms.

“What the fuck, kid?” Luci shouts, nearly falling over. 

Laura just sighs, trying to ignore the extra weight she feels. “-excited. Mini, can we do this inside? The neighbors hate us already.”

Minerva sticks out her tongue and shrugs, but makes no attempt to remove herself. “Oh, fine. Come on, Luci. Cass made coffee!”

Luci doesn’t move. “If you think I’m carrying you, you’ve got another thing coming.” 

Minerva pouts. “Ugh, whatever.” She lets go of Luci’s neck and lands back on the ground, and Laura heads inside, motioning for everyone to follow her. Behind her, she hears Minerva call Baal’s name, and she smiles.

About time the kid had some good news.

-

Cassandra is not amused.

Predictably, she immediately dislikes Luci, and doesn’t trust her or Baal. This decision, as is typical for Cassandra, is made within a moment of them stepping into the apartment. Inanna seems to have gotten off the hook, because the two of them are whispering in the kitchen, leaving Laura to deal with Minerva and the other two.

The brat in question is still in Baal’s arms after she’d convinced him to carry her inside. Laura hears him ask her how she is, and hears her answer, “Good, really, Baal. I promise.” His face softens just the tiniest bit as he ruffles her hair, and Laura realizes his big tough look is a cover. Definitely an effective one, but Mini, at the very least, has him wrapped around her finger.

Eventually, he puts Mini down, and they sit on the couch, Baal letting Minerva tell him and Luci about the last few months. Cassandra and Inanna join them after a while, and Inanna compliments her warding skills when he goes near the windows. “I noticed at the door, but it’s even more obvious when you’re inside,” he says, touching the windowsill. “These wards are very strong.”

“Thanks,” Cassandra says, and Laura can’t help but laugh as how surprised she looks. Her cheeks turn red and she clears her throat uncomfortably. 

“Looks like those student loans were worth it, huh, Cass?” 

“Shut it, Wilson.”

Luci looks at her curiously, and Laura can almost hear the question she wants to ask, but she just shrugs. A second later, Minerva interrupts them, demanding Cassandra tell Inanna and Baal how much she’s learned in the last few months. Laura takes the opportunity to duck out of the living room. Hopefully, Cassandra can handle them by herself for a few minutes. If not, it’s not like her roommate doesn’t know where to find her.

-

Laura takes her jacket off and throws it on her desk chair. She sits down at the edge of the bed and sighs, surprised at how tired she is all of a sudden.

There’s a knock at her door frame, and Laura turns to see Luci there. “So you wanna tell me why I screwed up so bad the other day?” she asks. Her voice is light, but Laura can tell she’s more worried than she lets on. 

“It wasn’t you,” Laura tells her, trying not to smile. “I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but I’m kind of like a beacon for demons and spirits. If I invite them in, they come. Spirits are easy, usually they just want to talk, but demons take a little more work. Sometimes blood. Works like a charm, though.”

“You let them possess you?”

“Yep. Cass calls me a medium, but to me it’s more like a magnet.” She doesn’t feel like elaborating, at least not now. Luci doesn’t need to know her sad backstory just yet. “They don’t stay for long, just enough to help me if I need it. And believe me, I don’t do it unless I’m really in trouble.”

“You realize how dangerous that is,” Luci says after a moment. “Using yourself as a vessel. How did you even learn to do that?”

She shrugs. “Didn’t learn. It just sort of happened one day and I had to figure it out.”

Luci sits down on the bed next to her. “How long have you been able to do it?”

Laura feels the urge to close her eyes. Everything feels so heavy. “First happened when I was thirteen. Someone tried to hurt me, and I was bleeding. I called for help, and a demon answered.” 

She hears as much as feels the deep breath the Luci takes. “I take it you’d rather not share this information.”

“I’d rather not. I can’t call demons in here because of the wards Cass put up, and I’ve had a lot of time to learn to how it all works. Minerva’s not in any danger.” Laura stands, heading for the door, but Luci catches her hand.

“What about you?” Her voice is quiet, but Laura hears it echo in her ears, acutely focused on Luci’s fingers around her wrist. A wave of foreign emotion crashes down on her, and Laura has to move so she doesn’t get crushed under the weight.

“I can handle it,” is all she says.

-

Minerva’s playing go fish with Baal, and Cassandra is attempting to stop her from cheating. Inanna calls Laura and Luci over to the kitchen.

“Is it bug time?” Luci asks, and Inanna laughs, pulling a small jar from his pocket and placing it on the table. Inside the jar is some kind of insect, and Laura sits down next to Inanna to get a better look, leaving Luci to take the chair across from her.

“So this is going to break the connection?” Laura asks, glancing back up at Inanna, who nods.

“Don’t sound so upset,” Luci says, raising an eyebrow. “We can always do it again if you’re looking for a good time.” Laura rolls her eyes, but says nothing, just keeps staring at the jar and wondering how this is supposed to work. Luci takes off her jacket, draping it across the back of her chair. “I’ll go first if you’re nervous, but I guess we’ll both feel it anyway, won’t we?”

Laura nods. “Guess so. But go ahead.” She watches as Luci picks up the jar and unscrews the lid, letting the creature crawl out onto her hand. A second later she feels a sharp, stabbing pain, almost like a bee sting. Luci doesn’t seem overly bothered, looking at Laura and holding out her free hand.

Laura takes it, and Luci lets the little creature crawl from her hand to Laura’s. She holds her breath for a few seconds before she feels it again, and Luci squeezes her hand firmly. “All done,” she whispers, that infuriating smirk back on her face, and suddenly Laura feels a distinct lack of _something_.

Inanna collects the insect from where it’s wandered onto the table and places it back in the jar. “You two should sit for a few minutes, you’ll probably feel a bit dizzy. I’m going to go make sure Cassandra and Baal don’t get into a fight.” 

Laura laughs. “Thanks, Inanna.” He stands and leaves the kitchen, and a moment later, she hears Minerva shout his name and demand he sit down and play cards with them. There’s a weird pressure behind her eyes, so she shuts them, hoping that’ll make it go away. Her head feels both blessedly empty and uncomfortably silent.

“You ok?” she hears, and she doesn’t trust herself to speak, so she just nods. Thankfully, Luci doesn’t say anything else, and she doesn’t let go of Laura’s hand either.

Laura wonders if she’s feeling the same thing.

-

A few hours later, everything is nearly back to normal, and Laura wakes up on the couch next to Luci, everyone else having been conned into taking Minerva for ice cream. Inanna had told them both to take it easy, and even though Cassandra hadn’t wanted Laura to be alone with Luci, she certainly wasn’t going to let Minerva leave with two strangers. 

Laura didn’t blame her. And besides, she wasn’t exactly mad about being alone with Luci, not that she’d tell Cassandra that.

She shifts until her legs are curled up under her, and she’s leaning against one of the couch cushions, watching Luci out of the corner of her eye. The TV is muted, but the captions are on. Apparently, in a move that seems perfectly on-brand, Luci’s watching some documentary about demonic possessions.

"Baal wants to take her back with us,” she says out of nowhere, still staring at the screen. 

Laura turns to face her. "I'm sensing a but." 

"For you, always,” Luci answers, smirking. "But really, I think she should stay here for now. I think Inanna agrees, but Baal thinks I'm an idiot."

“Why?” Laura’s surprised at how upset she feels. As much as Minerva’s disrupted their life, and as much of a brat as she can be, her gut reaction to someone taking her away is to say hell no.

“I think she’s better off with you than she is with us. Baal is just being stubborn. We’re out all the time, and we can’t just leave her alone there. Besides, what we do is dangerous. It was different when her mom was around.” 

Laura can’t help but agree. Her feelings aside, Minerva doesn’t have parents, and as shitty a job as her and Cassandra are probably doing, she’s better off here than with the demon hunters. If she lived with them, the kid would probably never eat another vegetable again, and that wouldn’t even be the worst of it. 

“You’re right,” She says after a moment. 

Luci winks. “I know.” 

Laura rolls her eyes, trying to hide her smile, but Luci nudges her shoulder and she knows she’s been caught. “To be honest, it’s safer here. Baal can’t argue with that. Whatever your little roommate did to this place is pretty impressive, and if Inanna says it’s safe, it is.” She pauses for a second, and then adds, “But I also think we should at least ask Minerva for her opinion, lest she make all our lives a living hell.”

“Good point.”

They’re both silent for a while before Luci speaks again. “You should try and go back to sleep.” 

Laura groans. “You sound like Cassandra. I’m fine.” She ignores Luci’s raised eyebrow and gets off the couch, stretching her arms above her head a little longer than she normally would. “Super hungry, though. Wanna go get some food? I’m sure as hell not cooking.”

This time, at least, Luci doesn’t try to pretend she’s not staring. 

-

Minerva, as it turns out, is a very strange 8-year-old. But Laura knew that already.

“Why can’t Laura and Cass and I just stay with you?”

Cassandra makes an unpleasant choking noise. Laura and Luci, still standing in the doorway with their leftovers, don’t say a word. Inanna chuckles, and Baal looks like he’s about to pass out at the suggestion.

Laura, it seems, has to be the one to break the awkward silence. “Mini,” she says, dropping her bag on the table and walking over to sit on the edge of the couch by Minerva’s knee, “I don’t know if that’s such a great idea.”

“It’s a terrible idea,” Baal finally chimes in, and Minerva narrows her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Baal,” she whines, “you’re mean.” She pushes her head into Laura’s shoulder, and Laura doesn’t even get a second before Baal is glaring at her again. Just when she thought he was over it. Luckily, Luci clears her throat, calling his attention over to her. “Mini, both Laura and Baal are right. Staying with us is dangerous right now as long as that demon is still around. It’s easier for us to make sure you’re safe if you stay here.”

Cassandra and Baal are both silent, shock evident on their faces, but Inanna only nods. “I was going to suggest that. Baal, nothing’s going to get in here. We can’t guarantee that at our place, not with literal jars of demons in the house. We can’t ward as well in there and you know it. Plus, Mini, we can’t just make Cass and Laura move in with us.” He laughs, bending down and taking Minerva’s hands. “If you stay here, we can come check on you, and make sure all of you are ok, without making you a target.”

Minerva moves her head just enough to see Inanna over Laura’s shoulder. “That’s dumb.” She sighs, sniffling, and looks up at Laura. “Can we go visit them too? I miss Sakhmet.”

Laura looks at Luci, who whispers, “The cat.” 

Ah, the damn cat. Honestly, Laura doesn’t give a shit about the cat, but now Minerva’s got that pathetic pouty face on, and she knows for an absolute fact that none of them can say no to that.

-

Despite the temporary hiccup, Laura's life continues on. She's used to unorthodox; in fact, if her life was predictable, she wouldn't be able to handle it. At least this way, she's never bored. First, she'd had to adjust to being a demon magnet, and everything that meant. Then, to moving out of her parents’ house and living with a roommate and a kid. 

Now, she’s apparently sharing custody of said kid with a group of demon hunters, one of whom she has a terrible crush on.

Today, she’s sitting at the dining room table of said demon hunters, Mini on her right, sitting on a giant old dictionary, and Luci on her left, pretending to read from a book while she plays Tetris on her phone between the pages. Cassandra and Inanna are in the kitchen, and Baal is bringing plates into the dining room. Laura’s so used to his signature red jacket that seeing him without it is strange. 

Laura stands when he walks in, relieving him of one stack of plates, and he thanks her as he sets the others down. They’ve been getting along, more or less, since Inanna suggested they have dinner once a week. She should have known Minerva liked him for a reason; he’s actually not a bad guy. 

The food is delicious, as always; Inanna is an awesome cook and so is Cassandra, and even Mini doesn’t do a terrible job when she insists on helping. Luci generally keeps to herself when she’s not flirting with Laura, sitting on the porch with headphones in or reading one of the piles of books Inanna’s set aside for her. She rarely helps in the kitchen, and as Laura learns from Inanna, it’s really a blessing, as her cooking skills leave something to be desired.

“What he means is, she’s not allowed to cook or she’ll set the damn house on fire.” Baal had told her, and Inanna had just smiled.

She’s reluctant to admit it, but she enjoys having dinner with them every week, and she knows Cassandra does too. The demon hunter make an effort to keep them in the loop, telling them the progress they’ve made, and Inanna and Luci keep in touch with her during the week with any updates. She’s even started dropping by during the week after Inanna had offered to teach her some basic protection spells.

It’s almost like Laura has multiple friends now. Like she doesn’t always have to keep to herself. Like things are looking up.

It’s pretty good, actually.

-

Luci looks down at her suit, which instead of it’s normal white is now a covered in a dull, dirty red. “Well. That sucked.”

Baal stands up, taking a deep breath and handing her the bottle, now full of noxious black smoke. “You’re telling me. At least we got it this time, and it won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

“Ugh, spare me the waterworks, Sunshine. Let’s take it back to Inanna so he can check it out.”

Finally, after three months, they’ve managed to track down the demon that killed Minerva’s mom, along with countless more people. The man who’d been playing host to the demon is beyond saving, and clearly Baal is upset about it, but Luci doesn’t really care as long as the damn thing is out of their hair. Not to mention, it’s another demon to add to their list: only 10 more and she doesn’t have to worry about Ananke breathing down her neck.

When they get back to the house, Luci’s surprised to see Laura sitting in the living room across from Inanna, a book in her lap and a blanket over her knees. The table’s been moved and there’s a protection circle on the floor.

“Well hello, gorgeous. This is a nice surprise.” Luci says, putting the bottle down with the rest of her things. She can almost hear Baal rolling his eyes.

Laura looks up, her face scrunching up in an adorable pout. She opens her mouth to respond, but then she looks down at Luci’s suit and her eyes widen. “What the hell happened? Are you ok?”

Luci waves a hand dismissively. “Relax, it’s not all mine. Some of it is Baal’s.”

Laura’s expression somehow seems even more panicked. She sighs, taking off her bloodstained suit jacket and heading toward the stairs. So much for trying to lighten the mood.  
“I’m going to go change my shirt. Don’t miss me too much,” she says, and Inanna nods, putting a hand on Laura’s shoulder. 

“Bring down some towels, Luci? I’ll get the first aid kit.” He stands, walking over to Baal and tugging off his jacket.

“Laura, can you get me some hot water? Bowls are in the cabinet above the sink,” Luci hears Inanna call out as she hits the top of the stairs.

She thinks she hears Laura say “yeah,” but she’s not sure.

Later, Inanna drags them all into the basement so he can inspect the bottle with the demon inside. He sticks a syringe into the cork, drawing out a bit of the liquid, and places it into another container, with a small white tablet. The liquid immediately starts to boil, changing from black to red and then back to black, and the bubbles eventually subside. 

Inanna watches the reaction intently, asking Baal to write things down occasionally. Luci sits next to Laura, doodling in a small notebook, not even pretending she’s paying attention. Laura alternates between watching what Inanna does and observing Luci not-so-subtly out of the corner of her eye. After a while, he places another tablet in the mixture, this one blue, and it settles again, looking like it had in the beginning. He inserts the syringe again, fills it, and returns the liquid to the bottle. 

“You’re not going to like this,” he explains as he looks between Baal and Luci. Luci puts down her pen and leans her chin on her hands. 

“What is it?” Baal asks, frowning. Inanna puts the bottle on a shelf and puts a tag on the neck, then comes back, leaning both arms against the table.

“This demon definitely came from Ananke.” 

No one says anything for a while. Laura’s not really sure _what_ to say. Eventually, she settles on her first thought, “Who the fuck is Ananke?”

Everyone ignores her, although Inanna at least sends her an apologetic look. Baal huffs, his face incredulous. “Well, someone had to have stolen it.”

Luci laughs at him, looking invested for the first time today. “Are you kidding me? Who’s to say she didn’t let the damn thing out? Wouldn’t be the first time she tried to kill us.”

Baal’s eyes narrow and he stands up. “Get her out of here, Lucifer. We can discuss this later.” He’s out of the room in only a second, and Laura wonders how he moves that fast. Inanna sighs and rubs his temples. “I’ll go talk to him, Luce,” he says, and then he’s gone as well.

Luci steps toward her, hooking her hands in the pockets of Laura’s jacket and pulling her closer, bending to whisper in her ear. “She’s a bit of a sore subject, I’m afraid. But you’re smart, sweetheart, I know you can figure it out.” Laura opens her mouth to respond but Luci takes one hand out of her jacket and places a finger over her lips.

“Shh. Now go home, we’ll take care of this.” She gives Laura’s jacket another tug and then withdraws, winking as she heads up the stairs.

-

When Laura gets home, she pulls her keys from her pocket and a piece of paper falls to the floor. She picks it up and opens it, realizing it’s a piece of paper from Luci’s notebook. There’s some doodles, one which she’s pretty certain is Baal, and then underneath, the words ‘Ananke,’ ‘recurrence,’ and an address.

10pm, it says at the bottom, followed by a heart.

When the hell did Luci have time to write that? Maybe she was paying more attention than Laura thought. 

She heads into the apartment and sits on the couch, scrolling through the search results for ‘Ananke’ and ‘recurrence.’ Shockingly, there’s almost nothing relevant; she finds a few articles about demon hunters, and the Greek goddess Ananke, but nothing combining the two. She decides to search for just ‘recurrence’ and see what the hell that means, and that’s when Laura actually finds something useful.

The article is terribly written. It’s by a man named David Blake, and Laura swears she’s heard the name before, but she can’t place where. According to him, the Recurrence is an event that happens every 90 years, when demons and angels fight to tip the scales in their favor and upset the balance of ‘good and evil’ on earth. For thousands of years, this cycle repeated, until a few hundred years ago when the angels suddenly disappeared, leaving humanity to deal with the influx of demons by themselves.

Laura rereads it a few times, trying to decide if there could possibly be any truth to it. It sounds like bullshit, if she’s being honest, but if demons are real, who’s to say angels aren’t?

At the end of the article, Blake mentions humans evolving to fight demons, and that they’d adopted the names of various gods in order to protect their identities.

 _Ananke_ , she thinks. It makes sense. Baal. Inanna. She knew those couldn’t be their real names, but what did it matter to her?

And Luci. Baal had called her Lucifer earlier.

So what did it mean? Was Ananke the bad guy, or was she helping? Luci didn’t seem to have a great opinion of her, but Laura knew all three of them were hiding something.

Time to figure out what.

-

Laura gets there first. She waits outside the alleyway, and when Luci’s car pulls up, she waves. 

The window rolls down. Luci’s eyes are wide, and she lays a hand on her chest in mock surprise. “Laura, is that you?” she asks, winking. “How could you possibly have found us?”

She hears Baal’s voice from the passenger’s seat. “Fuck you, you told her.”

“I did no such thing. But since she’s here, she should come with us. I’m so sick of being a third wheel.”

Inanna gets out of the car. “Yes, please save me from their bickering,” he says, giving Laura a hug. Luci and Baal get out of the car, still arguing. Laura sighs, crossing her arms. 

“So why can’t you talk about Ananke?” 

“Because she doesn’t exist,” Baal replies, frowning.

Luci gives him a pointed look. “You mean she’s not supposed to exist.” When he tries to protest, Luci holds up a hand. “She’s already here, Baal. Might as well spill the beans.”

Ananke is old, Luci explains, and no one knows how she’s that old. She’s the unofficial official head of demon hunters like them. No one remembers a time when she wasn’t around, and she’s never looked terribly different than she does now. She’s powerful, and she scares the shit out of all of them because they don’t know exactly what her limits are.

“And of course, Baal and I owe her big time.”

“For what?”

“Story for another day, darling,” Luci says, lighting a cigarette. “Just know she’s not exactly a nice lady. Better to keep that pretty mouth of yours shut and let these two do the talking. She likes them.” Baal huffs. Luci exhales, blowing out a cloud of smoke. She drops the cigarette and steps on it, looking at Baal and Inanna expectantly.

“Well, lead the way.”

-

Baal knocks at the door and it opens almost immediately. No one is there to greet them, but Baal doesn’t seem concerned, motioning for them to follow him down the long, dimly lit hallway. 

At the end of the hall is another door. This one opens for them as well, and all of a sudden Laura finds herself in the middle of total chaos.

“Welcome to Valhalla,” Luci whispers in her ear. “Cozy, isn’t it?”

The strobe lights make it almost impossible to see, but as her eyes adjust, Laura sees that the room has two levels. The lower level seems like a club of some sort, and the upper level is littered with huge cages, with people fighting inside. Not just fighting, no; beating the absolute shit out of each other.

She watches one of the cage matches, noticing the fighters putting gas masks on before they get into the ring. One of them falls to the floor, and a few attendants pick him up and throw him into the fray.

“So people, what? Inhale demons and fight for sport?” Laura asks. Baal looks back at her, shrugging.

“You got it.”

Laura raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything else. Baal leads them up the stairs to a roped-off area, and a pair of stoic women move to let them pass. Baal and Inanna approach Ananke, and she smiles at them, somehow both tender and vaguely threatening.

“Nice to see you,” she says. “Better late than never, I suppose.” She doesn’t even seem to notice Luci or Laura. 

Baal bows slightly and Inanna inclines his head. “We ran into a problem,” Inanna says. “A few actually. But it’s all taken care of now.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Luci mumbles, and Laura doesn’t know anything about Ananke, but she sure as hell knows that was the wrong thing to say.

For the first time, Ananke glances at Lucifer. Her voice remains calm. “Don’t forget you owe me a debt, Lucifer. 12 demons or your life. Would you like to choose the latter instead of the former?” 

Luci looks like she’s about to say something incredibly stupid, so Laura moves in front of her, stepping forward to stand even with Inanna. 

“Hey, these fights seem pretty popular. A little risky, though, huh?”

Ananke turns to her, slowly, and she looks even more ancient up close. “And who do you think you are, child?”

“No one important,” Laura answers. 

“Are you here to babysit Lucifer? She does have a habit of getting into trouble.”

Laura just smiles. Cassandra always told her she couldn’t help getting into fights, and Laura had always tried to deny it. She didn’t go looking for trouble, not anymore, but sometimes, there were certain problems that were best solved by fighting.

For example, this one.

“I’ve got a proposition for you. Wanna hear it?” Baal starts to say something, but Inanna quiets him, and Laura looks at him, mouthing her thanks. Ananke smirks, and a chill runs down Laura’s spine.

“Go on.”

“I’ll fight in one of your cage matches, and if I win, Luci and Baal don’t owe you anything.”

Ananke steeples her fingers under her chin. “Hm. That could be interesting.”

Inanna catches her eye again. “Laura, what are you doing?” he whispers to her. She squeezes his arm. “Don’t worry, just go. Look around and find where that demon came from. I’ll distract them.” He doesn’t look convinced, but Inanna nods, pulling Baal out of the way. “Alright.”

Luci doesn’t seem to get the message, though. “Are you kidding me?” She spits at Ananke, getting nearly as far as her chair before a guard holds her back. “It’s my debt, tell her no.”

Ananke shrugs, reaching out a hand and grabbing Luci’s chin. “I love you, Lucifer, but this is between the girl and I now.” She looks at one of the men next to her, who, Laura notices, is wearing something like a motorcycle helmet on his head. “Woden, have one of the Valkyries get her a demon.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I come with my own.” Ananke looks puzzled for only a second before waving her hand. “As you wish. Take her to the ring, Woden.” She crosses her arms, turning away from Laura and, apparently, ending the discussion.

The man in the helmet approaches Laura, beckoning her forward. As she moves to follow, Luci grabs her arm, spinning her around. “What the fuck are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that someone has to buy Inanna and Baal enough time to snoop around and find out what’s going on. Come on, Luci, I can handle this. Trust me. Besides, don’t you want to see what I can do?”

Luci groans. Laura opens her mouth again, ready to make another joke, but Luci grabs both of her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. She’s never looked more serious. 

“You’d better not die,” Luci warns, and then kisses her, hard. It’s over before she even realizes what’s happening. Well, there’s enough of a reason to not get herself killed, Laura thinks.

“Got it,” she answers, smiling ear to ear, and then disappears into the ring.

-

Laura puts her headphones on and turns the volume up. Everything around her fades into the background. She takes the knife from her pocket and cuts her palm, swearing she can feel Luci’s eyes on her as she climbs into the ring. 

“Come help me,” she mumbles to herself, sitting in the middle of the floor and taking a deep breath. She waits until a good amount of blood has welled up on her hand before smearing into a number with her finger. “Ten. Nine.” Idly, she watches her opponent outside the ring, inhaling the contents of a bottle through a gas mask. He’s tall and burly, and she hopes he’s as slow as he looks.

“Eight. Seven.” 

She picks a song and shuts her eyes, listening intently to the intro notes and trying to block out the sound of the crowd getting louder. “Six. Five. Four.” The announcer says something into the microphone, but she can’t quite make out the words.

“Three. Two.” 

There’s a clicking sound as the other side of the ring opens. She starts to feel a little dizzy, a cold feeling crawling up her spine. Something whispers in her ear, and Laura leans into the voice.

“One.” Silence. 

After that, Laura doesn’t remember a damn thing.

-

Watching Laura fight isn’t very different from any other cage match she’s seen, except it’s _Laura_. One minute, she’s sitting on the floor, scrolling through her iPod, and the next, her eyes are totally black, and she gets up, jumping on her opponent before he’s even fully in the ring. He eventually manages to throw her off, but she’s back on her feet in only a second. 

Luci tries to remind herself that it’s actually a demon in there, but it’s hard when Laura’s body is the one taking the damage. She’s already got an ugly gash on her forehead and blood running down her chin, but she doesn’t seem phased.

Brutal is the only word she can think of to describe it, but Luci can’t look away, no matter how badly she wants to. Eventually, after what feels like ages, her phone buzzes in her pocket, and she glances down at the screen. It’s Inanna, telling her they’ve got info on who let the demon out, and to get Laura and get out of there. She doesn’t bother answering.

When she looks back up, she feels her chest constrict; she’d only been distracted for a moment, but suddenly Laura is on the ground, her face pressed against the dirt as the demon inside of her screams in rage. Her opponent pulls her up by her hair and slams her back down again, eliciting a collective groan from the crowd. 

Luci runs to the ring’s entrance, pushing people out of the way to get closer. “Laura, get the fuck up!” she shouts. Two of Woden’s Valkyries rush to hold her back just as she gets to the gate, and fuck, she’d forgotten how strong they were.

Everyone around her is screaming, but Luci can only focus on Laura’s limp body as her opponent tosses her into the side of the ring. Somehow, she gets up, and Luci watches her face, contorted like most possessions she’s seen. Her smile is unsettling.

Something’s different, though.

She punches her opponent in the face, getting a perfectly clean shot, and he falls to the floor with a thud. That’s when Luci notices, as Laura stands over his body. She’s covered in blood, still, but her wounds don’t look nearly as bad as they did before. 

She wasn’t kidding. The demon’s healing her. It’s helping her. 

And now, as she stomps her foot into the poor bastard’s face, one of the Valkyries rings the bell. 

“We’ve got a winner,” she announces in a mechanical voice, and the arms holding Luci back disappear as the gate opens. She rushes in, and Laura nearly falls into her arms. Her eyes are back to normal but she doesn’t answer when Luci calls her name, just holds onto her and lets Luci lead her out of the ring. 

Baal appears out of nowhere next to her, his expression unreadable. “Let’s go,” he says, holding out his arms; Luci reluctantly lets go of Laura and helps Baal pick her up as gently as possible. 

“Meet you outside,” he calls to her, and Luci nods.

She walks to where Ananke is still seated, sparing Woden a glare as she passes him. As she approaches, Ananke holds out her hand; no matter how angry Luci is, she’s got more important things to worry about right now, so she stops in her tracks.

“A deal is a deal, Lucifer. Your debt is dissolved. But both of you’d best remember who you’re fucking with.”

Luci isn’t sure if Ananke means her and Baal, or her and Laura, and she certainly doesn’t want to hang around long enough to find out.

-

Laura wakes up in Luci’s room. She only knows because everything is white, and she’s sure as hell not in a hospital.

She looks toward the door and sees Luci walking toward her, Laura’s headphones and iPod in her hands. She places them on the nightstand. “Well, hello there.” 

Laura sits up and stretches her arms above her head, fighting off a yawn. “Hello yourself.” She pats the spot next to her and Luci sits on the edge of the bed, putting her hand on Laura’s knee. Laura barely feels it through the blankets, and that bothers her, for some reason, so she scoots closer to Luci.

“What happened?” she finds herself asking as she runs her finger over a cut on her chin. “Did I win?” 

“You did. By the way, if you ever try doing that again, I’ll kick your ass myself,” Luci warns, pulling Laura’s hand from her chin. “Don’t touch it. It’s healing fine.” Her hands are warm, and Laura can tell there’s cuts on her knuckles by the way they sting when Luci touches them. “G-o-d, you are lucky you’re cute.” Luci mumbles, frowning, and it’s times like these when Laura almost wishes she could still tell what was going on in her head.

“Sorry,” she says, knowing she doesn’t mean it, and that she’d do it again. Clearly, Luci knows it too, because she scoffs, as if to call Laura on her bullshit. “No you’re not, sweetheart.”

“That didn’t sound like a thank you.”

Luci laughs, her head dropping to Laura’s shoulder. “I’ve decided I’m not going to thank you yet. I’m still cross with you.”

Laura shrugs, purposefully jerking her shoulders to knock Luci off. Suddenly, a thought occurs to her. “Hey, where’s Mini? And Cass?”

“Down in the kitchen with everyone else. Baal says he won’t tell us what they found out until you wake up. I think you’ve finally managed to win him over with your recklessness and stupidity.”

“About damn time,” Laura says. “You wanna go downstairs?”

Luci smiles. “Nope.”

She lets go of Laura’s hand and cups her face, pulling her forward into a kiss. Laura ignores the tightness in her chest and leans into her, wrapping her arms around Luci’s neck. “I was hoping you would do that again,” she mumbles against Luci’s mouth.

“Almost didn’t get the chance.” Laura rolls her eyes despite the butterflies in her stomach, pulling Luci closer. It’s not comfortable, but she doesn’t care.

“Rude. I’m fine, ok? Just kiss me again.”

She lets Luci push her back down against the pile of pillows. Whatever Baal’s got to tell them can wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
